Comparing the Bush administration’s “response” to global environmental change and how the Obama administration is gearing up to respond is analogous to comparing the Indy 500 to the S&P 500. Beyond the common numeral there really is no comparison. President George W. Bush did some good things for our environment, such as creating a marine reserve in the Palmyra Atoll region of the Pacific Ocean, (Velasquez-Manoff, 2009) but his failure to recognize the implications of global environmental change and the planet as the cohesive ecological system that it is precipitated inaction, and thus a waste of valuable time in the efforts to both mitigate and adapt to this change.
The Bush administration’s failure to see the big picture in reference to global environmental change can clearly be seen in the resulting outcomes of his eight years as president. The withdrawal of the U.S. from the Kyoto treaty is both an important symbol of American isolationism from Europe and a direct link as to why the country (and perhaps the world as a whole) has not reduced greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants that affect the global environment. The Kyoto agreement is not without flaws but the unwillingness to negotiate, or inaction, was not conducive to a good outcome for the global environment. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) the United States greenhouse gas emissions went up by 1.4% in 2007. An article in the LA times states carbon dioxide emissions rose by nearly 2.0% in the U.S. in 2007 while Denmark’s went down by 8%, the U.K. and Germany 3%, and France and Australia 2%. Granted, this is only a single year, but considering the breadth of the consequences and that Bush had been in office since 2000, these numbers sum up rather well the effect of his administration on global environmental change.
The ironic nature of the Bush administration’s response to environmental change is that perhaps the best aspect of it is reflected in policy’s that did not take effect. The administration made a habit of changing environmental regulations, many of which have been overturned by the Supreme Court. It is a tribute to our system that these efforts were not allowed to come to fruition. One example was the blocking of “changes to the rules that govern what kind of logging, mining or other activities can be allowed in national forests.” (Shogren, 2007) Carol Browner, head of the EPA in the Clinton administration and Obama energy “czarina” is quoted as saying this about the issue:
"As dreadful as the Bush administration has been with respect to clean air and forests and all these environmental issues, the courts have been really our savior. And have time and time again in the last years [it has] stepped in." (Shogren, 2007)
Another example of Bush environmental policy being thwarted is President Obama’s retracting of regulations inserted by Bush before he left office. One example of these regulations with global environmental implications “would have opened 2 million acres of public land in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah for oil-shale drilling.” (O'Carroll, 2009)
It appears that Bush was mired in the old ways of pitting the environment against the economy. In an April 2008 speech Bush states “The Kyoto Protocol would have required the United States to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The impact of this agreement, however, would have been to limit our economic growth…” (The White House Office of the Press Secretary, 2008) I maintain that this did not have to be, and that Obama has offered a glaring contrast to this outdated thinking. Obama campaigned on stimulating the economy in part by creating “green” jobs and fostering energy efficiency that will both save money and reduce fossil fuel use.